The Beijing year in review…
It all went a bit ‘Mexican soap opera’ for China’s Communist Party this year, but a new Congress was elected in November as planned, and Mr Xi Jingping is now China’s top dog. The silver lining? It should finally put an end to all those annoying jokes about Hu Jintao’s surname.
A. “Who’s China’s President?”
B. “Hu”.
C. “No that’s what I asked you”
Etc…
Beijing got a bit wet. The most soaked it had been in 60 years to be (sort of) precise. As you can imagine, the Brits among us had a field day (we enjoy nothing more than dramatizing the weather, as you know). Unfortunately it seemed there was no need to dramatize after day 2 of the July deluge when things got rather too serious. The novelty of photographing people swimming rather than walking to their local 7-11 also wore off quite quickly…
Gulou got cool! It’s always been the area where Beijing’s indie kids hung out, but now it’s got some of the city’s best boutiques and restaurants too. From Yunnan eatery Southern Barbarian (a cool Shanghai export) to hidden British gastropubs, vintage shops, microbreweries and bars serving some of the best cocktails this side of NYC, there’s no excuse not to spend time there.
Nanluoguxiang lost its cool. Unfortunately for The Little Hutong That Could, all the creative shops that once stretched its length got crowded out by cheap snack stalls, street hawkers selling bunny ears and shops blaring obnoxiously loud music. Don’t get us wrong, it’s still a fun place to take first timers, but we won’t be spending quite as much time there in future. Unless we fancy some of that Beijing nailao. Now that’s worth a trip.
We discovered the China Daily Show as a source of guffaw-inducing news, and were equally pleased in January when The Economist launched a whole new section of the paper devoted entirely to China. If it’s wit and analysis on Chinese affairs you were after in 2012, those two couldn’t be beat.
Some Korean bloke had us all dancing like asses. Sorry, correction – as though we were riding asses. But perhaps we were right the first time. Still, much fun was had by all, especially Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei, who decided to don a pink t-shirt and shades to recreate his own version, and this bunch from Project Pengyou, whose “Ditan Style” imitation had a (much needed) green message for Beijing to pay attention to.
And hey, who knows what 2013 has in store? (apocalypse notwithstanding). Happy New Year everyone!